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| Will NC act against MPs Uri, Ratanpuri? | | Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act | | Rustam
JAMMU, Dec 21: Will the National Conference (NC) take action against its two Rajya Sabha MPs Mohammad Shafi Uri and G N Ratanpuri who on Thursday opposed the official bill seeking amendment in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of 1947 overlooking the fact that their colleagues in the Lok Sabha, including party president and Union Minister for Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah, voted for the amendment? (The amendments to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act sought to include "procurement of weapons", raising funds for "terrorist activities" and "counterfeiting Indian currency under the definition of a terrorist".) They did not support the amendment despite the assurance given by Minister of State for Home RPN Singh that the law was against terrorism and terrorists. "This Bill is against terrorism and terrorists. I assure that the bill is religion neutral...Terrorism is not just about guns, it is also about attack on a country's economy," he told the Rajya Sabha while allying fears of the critics of the proposed amendments. Even the statement of Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde that only "an individual, group of individuals, an association who are involved in counterfeit currency circulation will be covered under the law and is not against innocent people" had no desired impact on the NC MPs. Others who opposed the amendments in the House of Elders included several members belonging to the JD-U, the RJD, the CPI and the CPI-M. They expressed the view that that proposed amendments were aimed at granting "extra powers to police" and the same could be "misused against members of a particular community , caste and trade unions". However, the bill seeking amendments was adopted in the Rajya Sabha.
The question is not that the pseudo-secular parties like the JD(U) of Shard Yadav, the RJD of Lalu Prashad Yadav, the CPI of A B Bardan and CPI-M of Prakash Karat opposed the proposed amendments. The issue is the contradictory stand of the NC MPs in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. How could the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members belonging to the same outfit, which has been sharing power with the Congress both in the state and at the centre, conducted themselves differently? Was it not an act of political dishonesty? Did the NC follow in the footsteps of BSP president Mayawati whose party staged a walkout from the Lok Sabha before voting could take place on the motion moved by the opposition seeking withdrawal of the order under which Foreign Direct Investment FDI) in multi-brand retail trade was allowed to mislead the country that it was opposed to the government decision and voted against the similar motion in the Rajya Sabha two days later to save the UPA Government? Observers say that the BSP changed stand because there was deal.
In the Lok Sabha the party MPs supported the bill and in the Rajya Sabha the NC MPs opposed it, saying "we have countless such instances in our country where innocent people have been killed in fake encounters. They have spent years in jails. Businesses and properties were destroyed but no one ever expressed regrets for such acts". Ratanpuri said so while opposing the bill. Indeed, the NC played a double-role in the highest law-making body of the country. It has to inform the people of the state and the nation as a whole as to why it played a double-role in the Parliament failing which it would be construed that the NC MPs in the Rajya Sabha opposed the amendment at the behest of the leaders at the helm for questionable reasons. |
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